You Are the Light of the World

I’ve always been fascinated by this thought – Jesus is the Light of the world, and Jesus called US the light of the world. It’s a partnership. He’s the Light of the world in the sense that He brings salvation to the world. We’re the light of the world in the sense that we bring His salvation to the world around us.

Jesus made this statement in the Sermon on the Mount. Some argue that this sermon is Jesus’ constitution for the Kingdom and that it doesn’t really apply to us as Gentiles. I must disagree in the sense that God’s standards and moral expectations of people are universal and the Sermon on the Mount is a wonderful example of how God’s truth is applied to our everyday lives.

Here’s the bottom line truth of what I believe Jesus is saying: The greatest witness to the world of the gospel will be showing lives that have been radically changed by Him.

This doesn’t mean for a second that we don’t have a message to verbally share. In fact, people won’t ever know the source of our power and the force that has changed us if we don’t articulate the gospel. But it’s also true that an effective witness is nearly impossible without the substantiation of real, changed lives.

We, as a church, talk a lot about the call to evangelism – the “let them hear” side of the gospel. But I want to challenge you concerning the exemplary side of evangelism – the “let them see” side. What is it that people need to see in order that they might give audience to the gospel?